Category Archives: Ellen

Ellen meets the family

The highlight of this vacation has definitely been introducing Ellen to all the family members that she hasn’t yet met, like her great grandparents. Connie organized a get-together this weekend so we’d have everyone in the same place, which is where many of these pictures are from.

Ellen with her great-grandmother, Velma Coppock Ellen with her great-grandfather, Stanley Coppock

It’s  a good thing that she’s pretty flexible about who holds her, because she’s been passed around a lot in the last three weeks, and it’s a good thing that she likes the spotlight, because she’s been the center of attention most of the time.

Ellen gets a walking lesson from her uncle Ben Ellen with Auntie Heather Mom and Lisbeth with Ellen, Cora, and ClaireEllen with her second cousin Cora Sarah and Lisbeth show off Cora and Ellen The dads: Karrie with Claire, Troy with Cora, and me with Ellen

The downside, however, is that she’s gotten accustomed to the attention, and she thinks it’s incredibly dull to have only the stale affections of her parents. We’re expecting her to be pretty unhappy when we get back to Denmark later this week.

Ellen with my cousin Rachel Grandma and grandpa with their great-grandchildren Sarah supervises playtime with Cora and EllenEllen with aunt Connie Ellen with her cousins Carly and Celina Ellen and her uncle Diego

Before this trip, the only members of my family that had met Ellen were mom and dad because they visited us in Denmark in May. Before they left, mom lamented that Ellen wouldn’t remember her. Sure enough, Ellen had to warm up to her again, but it didn’t take long.

Ellen and 'Pampah' Ellen with 'Bon-bon' Ellen and Lisbeth clown around

My genetics, defeated

Five months old Ellen is five months old. For the first four months, there was no question who she took after. Virtually everyone remarked how she had my coloring, my eyes, and so on. But recently that has all changed. Her original dark hair is rapidly being replaced with blond hair, and her eyes seem more and more like Lisbeth’s.

The change has been pretty dramatic. I’d grown accustomed to having her look something like I did when I was her age, but suddenly people that see her say things like, “Oh, she look so much like her mother.” I had a good four months, but it seems that my reign of genetic dominance is over.

Dåben

On Saturday, May 30th, we had Ellen baptized at Christians Kirke, just down the street from our old apartment. She behaved really well, even smiling at the priest during her prayer (so much so that I think the priest almost forgot what she was saying.)

Ellen didn't make a noise -- they must warm the water The priest returns Ellen's smile

It was interesting because both Lisbeth and I got pretty nervous before the service, but not because Ellen was getting baptized. This was more like post-traumatic stress. (This is, after all, the second time that I’ve gone into a church and said “ja” (yes) to a priest who asked me multiple questions in a language I really struggle to understand.) I think we were both nervous because it sort of felt like we were getting married all over again. Read More →

Ten Weeks

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And the baby goes into the box…

Up until today, we haven’t spend much money on baby stuff. We’ve been given a lot of things, and that has helped a lot, and much of what we’ve bought has been used. We saved at least 4000kr or $700 by buying a used baby carriage.

But today, we bought a brand new baby-related item: a bike trailer. (It wasn’t terribly expensive by itself, but they really get you for each accessory, of which there were plenty.) We really wanted something that would allow us to get back on the bikes. Walking with a baby carraige is nice, but it really limits how far we can go.

We were a little worried about the whole idea, because they don’t even make bike helmets for babies this young. But we found a brand that has a very clever accessory. It’s sort of a hammoc with a safety harness, so, in addition to the suspension on the trailer, the baby itself is suspended. It works really well. There are some rough spots and bumps on the way to the beach, but with the hammoc, the suspension, and slowing down before each bump, Ellen slept most of the time.

Six long weeks

Ellen is six weeks old today, and is a very different creature from the one we first brought home.

She stays awake longer than she used to during the day. She also sleeps more at night, which is great. She slept for nine hours a few nights ago.

But more importantly, she’s more alert.  She likes to be where the action is, and she shows interest in things around her. She can’t use her hands well enough to grab ahold of things yet, but you can tell she’d like to.

She’s more vocal too. When she gets excited about something, her little arms and legs start moving faster, and a few seconds later she makes a loud sort of squak. It isn’t much, but it’s her own voice, and she knows it.

The Frog at four weeks

I swore I wouldn’t do this. I swore I wouldn’t post batch after batch of baby pictures. I’ve always been annoyed by people that send out more than one picture of their newborns.

Babies are just not interesting to look at. They are often not even pleasant to look at. So sending out one picture is understandable, but two is pushing it. I don’t even want to count how many I’ve posted.

changing time

But several things have happened that I didn’t expect: Read More →

The three states of infancy

1. Asleep

2. Awake


3. Very awake

Ellen

Despite the weeks of waiting, and trying to expect the unexpected, the big day came in sort of an unsurprising way. We had a standing appointment on Monday for a checkup, in the event that the baby had not come before then.

And so, almost as if prompted by the deadline, Lisbeth started to have pains late Sunday night. The pain was strong enough to keep her up all night, but not strong enough for her to decide that we needed to head to the hospital. So we went the next morning for our 8:45 appointment.

Read More →